Category Archives: comics

batman arkham origins

Reply

It’s scheduled for release in late October this year—‘Batman: Arkham Origins’ (Warner Bros. Games Montreal 2013), the prequel to ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ and ‘Batman: Arkham City’ (Rocksteady Studios 2009, 2011). Here are the until now ↑known details, and here is a ↑full history of the ‘long line of Batman games stretching back more than 25 years.’ ROCKSTEADY STUDIOS. 2009. Batman: Arkham Asylum [computer game]. London, Burbank, New York: Eidos Interactive, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, DC Entertainment. ROCKSTEADY STUDIOS. 2011. Batman: Arkham City [computer game]. Burbank, New York: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, DC Entertainment. WARNER BROS. GAMES MONTREAL. 2013. Batman: Arkham … Continue reading →

stan lee cameos

Reply

  Two days ago, on 28 December 2012, ↑Stan Lee celebrated his 90th birthday: In collaboration with several artists, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, and many other fictional characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. Above is a montage of ↑his cameo appearances in Marvel superhero movies. A belated happy birthday to Stan Lee and many more cameo appearances to him! via ↑entry at ↑slashdot … Continue reading →

joost swarte interview

Reply

↑The Comics Journal just republished online a ↑long interview which Daniel Peniston and Kim Thompson did in 2006 with Dutch comic book legend ↑Joost Swarte. The interview not only shows what a Renaissance man Swarte is, but there also are discussed e.g. architecture, theatre, and the Clear Line aka ligne claire, originally Klare lijn as coined by Swarte. A fine companion piece on the latter subject is Paul Gravett’s ↑Hergé & The Clear Line. … Continue reading →

the painted smile

Reply

The fifth of November it is, and indeed we do remember … The next problem was the creation of the main character and the actual setting for the strip. Since ↑Dave [Lloyd] and I both wanted to do something that would be uniquely British rather than emulate the vast amount of American material on the market, the setting was obviously going to be England. Furthermore, since both Dave and myself share a similar brand of political pessimism, the future would be pretty grim, bleak and totalitarian thus giving us a convenient antagonist to play our hero off against. Not unnaturally, … Continue reading →

between which worlds?

2

zeph’s pop culture quiz #47 Between which worlds is the man the depicted hand belongs to travelling?     Just leave a comment with your educated guess—you can ask for additional hints, too. [Leaving a comment is easy; just click the 'Leave a comment' at the end of the post and fill in the form. If it's the first time you post a comment, it will be held for moderation. But I am constantly checking, and once I've approved a comment, your next ones won't be held, but published immediately by the system.] UPDATE and solution (31 October 2012): This … Continue reading →

mountains of madness

Reply

Panel from page 89 of ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ (Lovecraft & Culbard 2010). Back in late 2010 we had scottish illustrator and graphic designer ↑Murray Groat‘s wonderful ↑Tintin-↑Lovecraft ↵crossover covers [check out Murray's ↑blog, ↑portfolio and ↑deviant art page—there's more Lovecraftia to discover]. Matchingly enough in the same year a wonderful graphic novel version (Lovecraft & Culbard 2010) of H. P. Lovecraft’s ‘↓At the Mountains of Madness‘ (1936) by ↑I. N. J. Culbard was published—drawn in the best ↑ligne claire tradition. For the full experience you first might want to read Poe’s ‘The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of … Continue reading →

comic book newsstand

Reply

↑Mike’s Amazing World of Comics features an amazing tool for historians of popular culture: ↑The Newsstand. It allows you to choose any month, beginning in 1934, and then the system will give you the covers of all comic books which were on sale [in the US of A] this very month. Included publishers are: Marvel, DC, Archie, Charlton, Dark Horse, Dell, Gold Key, Harvey, and Image. via ↑entry at ↑boingboing … Continue reading →

Favorite what is this?

17

zeph’s pop culture quiz #46 What is the tiny shiny artefact displayed by the hands? From which movie does the screencap stem, and what role in the plot of that movie does the artefact play?     Just leave a comment with your educated guess—you can ask for additional hints, too. [Leaving a comment is easy; just click the ‘Leave a comment’ at the end of the post and fill in the form. If it’s the first time you post a comment, it will be held for moderation. But I am constantly checking, and once I’ve approved a comment, your … Continue reading →

the flash inspirations

Reply

This is the King Features ‘↑Flash Gordon‘ Sunday strip by ↑Alex Raymond as it was published on 23 June 1940. We see Gordon [whose adventures began on 07 January 1934] disguised as a ‘Power-Man’ ['the experts on whom Mongo's electrified civilization depends'] infiltrating the palace of ↑Ming the Merciless—and being detected. Please note the design and colour-scheme of the Power-Man uniform Gordon is wearing. The full uniform first was depicted two weeks earlier, in one panel of the strip of 09 June 1940.  Earlier the same year the DC-superhero ‘↑The Flash‘ first appeared in Flash Comics #1, published in January … Continue reading →

what is hidden?

3

zeph’s pop culture quiz #40 As we have approached some kind of jubilee with #40 of zeph’s pop culture quiz, here is a special one, a double feature, two riddles in one. A man facing away from us, a woman’s head in the foreground. In the scene depicted: What does the man try to hide from the woman present? The aficionados among you may well solve that question in an instant. So, now for the hard one. Partially hidden behind the man’s head there’s a poster on the wall. Which movie is advertised by the poster?     Just leave … Continue reading →